Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, writes in his book Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ, "What if our churches actively stood against the advertising culture by, for instance, cultivating our own musical culture rather than simply importing whatever is filtered down from the Christian music 'industry'? There was a day when Christian musical expression--from Byzantine chant to Appalachian bluegrass--bubbled up to the culture from the folk forms of local congregations. It could be that way again. Perhaps we wouldn't sound as 'professional' if we called out our people and worked to disciple them in the musical arts--whether in harp or in voice or in steel guitar--and allowed their creativity to find its niche within our congregational life, just as we do with preaching and teaching. We'd have some bad music in a lot of our churches. But would it be any worse than the endless 'worship' leadership we see now, imitating whatever has been market tested long enough to make it on the so-called Christian airwaves" (Russell D. Moore, Temptation and the Triumph of Christ [Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2011], 90-91).

Quality, musical creativity shouldn't be relegated to the secular music world. Of all peoples, Christians should be the most creative, ultimately because we know our God made music and also because we are those who should seek to glorify him and praise him with our musical gifts therefore bringing our best to him.

Although I myself am not in any way gifted musically, I know there are many people in the Appalachian region who are gifted in wonderful ways. The question is, as Dr. Moore mentions, is this musical culture being cultivated? Or do we just use or copy whatever is popular on Christian radio? What this would look like in the local church I am unsure but there are many examples of it being done in the wider evangelical church. This shouldn't come at the expense of older music created by those within the church in the past, but should be added to our rich musical heritage. Theologians often speak of the contemporary church as standing upon the shoulders of those preachers and teachers who have come before. So we don't ignore the past but build upon it. As one of my professors recently said, "We need music with teeth in it." We need music that speaks of the riches of Christ and the gospel, that gives a perspective of the world around us through a lens shaped by Scripture, and music that glorifies our God.

The intention shouldn't be to "make it big." Dr. Moore later writes, "We don't necessarily need the applause of Madison Avenue and Hollywood, and we probably aren't going to get it. We also should avoid rejecting that which the regnant culture dismisses, such as rural people and country folkways. Besides, the most truly transformative art is rarely received by the ambient culture in the lifetime of the artist. And transformative art does not always come from the elite and powerful culture mavens. Think, for instance, of the slave spirituals and Appalachian bluegrass and Russian dissident literature. We should cultivate culture influencers in the same way the apostles cultivated the Christians among the Praetorian Guard and the aristocracy. But at the same time we must remember that most of the apostles themselves were not 'culture-shapers' but commercial fisherman and low-level government contractors. The Christian movement that shaped the cultures of the empires and kingdoms and nations was not made up initially of many who were noble or powerful or even respectable (1 Cor. 1:26)" (Tempted and Tried, 157-158). The aim isn't to be known but to make our God known and enrich the worship of the church. Will you cultivate?